Mexican Holiday
Stalker, Quick Kick and Outback get a week's holiday in Mexico with their assignment but it isn't all peace and quiet! Issue summary At the Pit Hawk tells the Joes there will be an external inspection in two days so orders everyone on cleaning detail, with the exception of Outback, Quick Kick and Stalker who are given a mission to go to Mexico posing as tourists, taking no weapons or equipment, and deliver some eyes-only documents to a Drug Enforcement Administration (D.E.A.) liaison man, then spend a week sightseeing before returning home. The three Joes rapidly accept and head off. In Mérida, capital of the state of Yucatán, the three Joes take a ride on a horse and buggy. Stalker explains to the others that the reason for the subterfuge is that Mexican co-operation with US drug enforcement is a sensitive issue and that many Mexican officials are corrupt and the D.E.A. wants to by-pass them for the communications. Suddenly their driver reveals he is their contact and collects the letter. The Joes head for their holiday whilst their fellows back at the Pit carry on cleaning and moaning about the three's luck. The three relax at a luxury hotel with a swimming pool and private helicopter for seeing the Mayan Ruins. Quick Kick and Outback decide they want to see the ruins but as the helicopter is expensive they opt to take a regular bus. Meanwhile Stalker wants to stay at the pool and enjoy the view. At the Mayan ruins of Uxmal Quick Kick and Outback see the famous Temple of the Magician as the tour ends. As they return to the bus one of the fellow tourists boasts that he is an Olympic javelin thrower, whilst another berates her son, who is dressed as a soldier, for using a water pistol that looks like a Uzi and asks him if he threw away the firecrackers like she told him. At the hotel Stalker is relaxing by the pool when he sees a beautiful woman called Lydia dive in and stay in a long time. He dives in to rescue her and she whispers that she was an all-state swimming champion and wanted to meet him. The bus is heading home through the mountains when suddenly someone shoots at it, killing the driver. Outback manages to engage the break in time but then a squad from the People's Revolutionary Brigade of Mexico surround the bus and their leader Ignazio tells them that they are being taken as "prisoners of war in our armed struggle against U.S. imperialism and Mexico's corrupt counter-revolutionary puppet democracy". They tell the passengers to exit the bus and no harm will come to them but the first off is shot dead. At the hotel Stalker is worrying about why the others are late. The bus is shot at heavily and Quick Kick guesses the revolutionaries have seen the boy from a distance and assume he is an armed adult. Outback asks for weapons but the only thing anyone has are the boy's firecrackers. Meanwhile Quick Kick has found some pop bottles and sneaks outside to fill them with petrol for Molotov Cocktails. At the hotel Stalker and Lydia are dining but the Joe is still worried. He tells her he must go check on something and leaves, taking a steak knife with him. In the mountains the revolutionaries have the bus under siege. Meanwhile Quick Kick, Outback and the javelin thrower are climbing the mountain behind them with only two fire-bombs as the petrol tank was damaged. They light the cocktails when suddenly a revolutionary spots them. The javelin thrower is about to hurl the cocktail when he freezes and is shot dead. Quick Kick rapidly throws the cocktail at the revolutionary, killing him and Outback takes out two more but is hit in the face and they withdraw. At the hotel Stalker uses the knife to force the private helicopter pilot to take him up, then once aboard throws the plot out. At the bus the surviving tourists are being held at gunpoint outside the vehicle but Quick Kick's absence is noticed. Suddenly he appears behind the revolutionaries holding a Uzi and makes them drop their guns. But then Ignazio spots the gun is just a water pistol. Quick Kick squirts it and starts knocking out the revolutionaries but one has retrieved his own gun and rifle-butts the Joe with it. Then suddenly the helicopter appears. Stalker jumps out as it crashes into the bus, creating a massive explosion. At the end of the week the three Joes return to the Pit. Featured Characters Featured Vehicles & Equipment Errors Items of note *In the United Kingdom the story was reprinted in the G.I. Joe the Action Force Annual 1991. Footnotes Category:Marvel Comics issues